In Washington, DC, the day before the 2012 election, an
Occupy action
by dozens
of protestors blocked
the entrance to the law firm
McKenna Long and Aldridge, a major law firm with the oldest government contract
practice in the United States. The
firm also represents the Canadian corporation TransCanada, which is seeking
U.S. government permission to build the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta,
Canada, to the Gulf Coast.

Organizers
called this demonstration a "Tar Sands Solidarity Action," in support of
the Tar Sands Blockade of the Keystone XL pipeline now
under construction in East Texas.
Police arrested four people for refusing to move from in front of
TransCanada's lobbyist's front door.
Increased non-violent direct action seems to be a harbinger of mounting
pressure by environmentalists
across the country to persuade President Obama to shut down the
Keystone XL pipeline altogether for the sake of the health of the planet.

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The President is also under pressure
from Canadian officials and the oil industry
to give the $7 billion, 1,700-mile pipeline project a green light, for the sake
of the health of the global economy.
Industry supporters continue to claim the project "will create 20,000
shovel-ready jobs," even though TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling admitted
a year ago that the number is false, about three times too high.

In 2011, Environment Canada tried to suppress
its own report on widespread river pollution, by stamping it secret. After an access to information lawsuit
that took six months, the report was released, showing the Canadian government's
own projections of the devastating
impact of tar sands development on river
systems, natural habitats, and the release of
greenhouse gases. The Canadian
Association of Petroleum Producers lobbying group said it didn't see any "new"
information in the report.

The President is expected to announce his decision about the
Keystone pipeline in early 2013, prompting environmental groups to mount new
mass actions now. On Sunday,
November 18 in Washington, 350.org
is organizing a march around the White House and rally at Freedom Plaza. That same weekend in East Texas, Tar
Sands Blockade is training
volunteers for a non-violent action on Monday, November 19, along the pipeline
route. Solidarity
demonstrations are planned across the country for the week of November
14-20.

The day before the presidential election also marked the
beginning of the seventh week of the Tar Sands Blockade's tree-sitting in trees
TransCanada wants to cut down, a form of non-violent resistance in the path of
pipeline construction.

The blockade, which started with eight tree-sitters at one
location on September 24, has slowly expanded to numerous tree-sitters in a
variety of locations.

While the tree-sitters and their supporters on the ground
have slowed pipeline construction somewhat, the TransCanada crews have
continued working up to and beyond the blockades, with occasional violent, direct
confrontation. The company has hired an unknown number
of private security officers, in addition to the county sheriff's officers
already on the scene, and it uses helicopter surveillance.

Presidential Candidate Arrested Supporting
Blockade

On October
31, a TransCanada employee
who showed no identification, arrested
a presidential candidate, Green Party nominee
Dr. Jill Stein,
after she had delivered a knapsack full of supplies to the tree-sitters. The video
of this event shows a construction worker with a swastika clearly showing on
the front of his hardhat. Salon.com
reported on November 8 on "an actual neo-Nazi among the ranks of construction
workers" and showed a picture
of a man with a swastika showing clearly on the back of his hardhat.

Candidate Stein explained her position in a three-minute video and in a written statement issued before her arrest
with six other people, Dr. Stein wrote:

I'm
here to connect the dots between superstorm Sandy and the record heat, drought,
and fire we've seen this year -- and this Tar Sands pipeline, which will make
all of these problems much worse. And I'm here to connect the dots between
climate devastation and pipeline politicians -- both Obama and Romney -- who are
competing, as we saw in the debates, for the role of Puppet In Chief for the
fossil fuel industry. Both deserve that title. Obama's record of "drill baby
drill" has gone beyond the harm done by George Bush. Mitt Romney promises more
of the same.

Stein
had never been arrested in her life before she became a presidential
candidate. This misdemeanor arrest
for trespassing was her second in a month. Her first
arrest was for disorderly conduct, when she tried to enter the building for
the second presidential debate at Hofstra College in New York. Her arrest was the 32nd
arrest\ related to the Tar Sands Blockade.

Police Go After Tree Sitters with Cherry
Pickers

October 31 was the day the Tar Sands Blockade first arrived
in Nacogdoches
County in East Texas, near the town of Sacul, complete with local
TV coverage. The contingent of
about a dozen people included two New England women, identified only as Lauren
and Pika, who established a new tree-sitting position.

County sheriff's officers used cherry pickers in an effort
to bring the women down. They
succeeded with Lauren. But Pika,
who is an experienced climber from Vermont, climbed higher in her tree, beyond
the reach of the cherry picker.
Police then cut down her platform and climb line, leaving her with only
the rope she had on her person. While still in the tree, about 70 feet
up, she wrote:

I'm
sitting in this pine tree under flood lights and the watchful eyes of cops,

just thinking about all the implications
of this pipeline

and
that the destruction I see 70 feet below me is just one tiny part.

I
feel grief, but I also feel strong!

I
don't have any food or water. I couldn't get it high enough quickly enough,

so
the cops cut it down.

It's
starting to get a little chilly.

Thanks
so much for all the amazing support!!

At about 2 a.m., Pika
came down and was arrested. She
and Lauren were each charged
with Fourth Degree (State) Felony Criminal Mischief and Class B Misdemeanor
Criminal Trespass minus the Class A Misdemeanor Resisting Arrest charge. Bond was set at $25,500. They were identified
as Lauren Zygmont, 24, of Concord, N.H., and Hannah Morgan, 24, of Hartland, Vermont. When they were released,
police kept Pika's shoes.

Earth First News reports
that, on an earlier occasion, police used similar tactics on another climber,
Tre Arrow, "causing his near-fatal 40-foot fall."

In Austin, Texas, a disorganized call for Tar
Sands Blockade solidarity march on November 5 produced a turnout of half a
dozen people or so, even though many more had responded on Facebook that they'd
be there. Support rallies
the preceding three weeks had drawn TV cameras and some newspaper coverage.

Vermonter living in Woodstock:
elected to five terms (served 20 years) as side judge (sitting in Superior, Family, and Small Claims Courts);
public radio producer, "The Panther Program" -- nationally distributed, three albums (at CD Baby), some (more...)